Be Transformed
When I think of this scripture, I can’t help but think about my friend Willy. We were Youth Ministers at parishes just a few miles apart and were a good team. I was the planner, behind the scenes, attention to detail person and he was the public speaker, big idea, dreamer person. He, like me had grown up with some ministry during our teen aged years and we had a passion for giving the youth experiences that helped them find God.
His life led him to move from Kansas City but we stayed connected, seeing each other at conferences at least once a year. Each time we’d see each other it was like we’d never spent time apart. We would joke and laugh, sharing our dreams and aspirations. I was always content with where I was, serving the local parish. He wanted to do more.
In our work, there are people whom you can hire to lead retreats for teens. Willy felt God was calling him to do this for teens and young adults. He loved sharing stories and had, still has a presence about him to which people are drawn. He also isn’t afraid to try something new or attempt to achieve something bigger than himself. He’s fearless!
When he kicked off his website and business, he focused on this piece of scripture from Romans 12. It was at the time when Transformers, the movie was super popular and he cleverly merged the two things, something from the teens culture to teach them about God. It was fantastic.
He marketed himself to be Willy Putty, like silly putty. The idea or belief was that he was putty in God’s hands, for which God could mold him into whatever he needed to be in order to share the Gospel message. This along with the transformer, changing from one thing to another, gave him a solid platform to share God’s word with teens in a way they could relate.
Unfortunately, life struggles, changes and financial obligations kept his ability to do the work full-time only a limited engagement. He took a little time to regroup but my friend picked up the pieces and created something new. He decided to share another one of his passions, Cajun food. He started a Food Truck! Not youth ministry, but still a ministry.
He grew up in Louisiana and was living in the Midwest, so the Cajun cuisine he served was a big hit because many of the Food Trucks at the time were primarily tacos. There were people who became regulars and he began to build relationships, sharing his love of God with them. Additionally, he started donating food each day to homeless people living on the street. He was still sharing the Gospel!
My purpose in sharing a piece of Willy’s story is to identify that our lives are a series of caterpillar to butterfly transformations. We live our lives as a caterpillar, wandering around, living our lives until we are consumed by darkness. This could be a traumatic event such as a loss of a loved one or job. It could be a transition planned or unplanned. It’s a moment in time requiring you to step back, pause and regroup. The cocoon time is necessary to give you what you need for the next part of the journey. Then the butterfly appears.
I believe we have many butterfly moments throughout our lives. We move along as a caterpillar until we are faced with the call or need to change. We all go through this transformation and I believe if we are working towards being a better version of ourselves, we do it over and over. The scripture reminds us that we are not to conform to the ways of the world which is to just remain a caterpillar. The standards of the world tell us that our goal is to keep the status quo so when we face an obstacle, we need to work to get back to how it was and do our part to keep the balance.
Instead, God wants us to transform, shedding the views of the world to spread our beautiful butterfly wings to fly. My friend Willy continues to be an example of this. After a few years in the Food Truck, he hurt his back which required him to give up the truck. In true Transformer fashion, he is back, bigger and better than ever being a Dad and using his connections and platform to create a Podcast. There is nothing that can stop this beautiful butterfly from fulfilling the mission of spreading the Gospel!
